What do I know? Well I know a number of things, I know how to write, how to type, how to add and subtract. But that is just the basic things, that almost everyone knows. For me I know how it feels like to play an instrument, the violin to be exact. I have been playing for 3 years, and let me tell you one thing, it's not easy at all. Even till this day there is a number of things I still need improving on. Some people may be thinking “why play such a boring, plain instrument, why not something better like the guitar or drums”, well for me it wasn’t much a choice since my older sister plays the violin. It was very expected from my parents that I also choose to play the violin when I entered middle school. Now I can’t exactly recall how I even learned how to play the instrument. But I do know I practiced a lot for it. One of the first things we did was learn scales. And we would play the scale that we are learning as a warm up to the beginning of class then work on the music we were given. But for every scale we learned in class we had a test on, and it wasn’t your ordinary multiple choice test. It was very “scary” or nerve wracking because one by one we would be randomly called on for the test, where you had to play the scale in front of the whole classroom all by yourself. Then your music teacher, in my case it was Mr.Boccali, would critique you while you are playing. Depending on how you did on test, it would determine your chair number. For me no matter how hard I tried I would always end up be 2nd to last chair or last chair. I was terrible, but so was everyone else because it was a beginning strings class. And in my 2nd year of playing I made it into String Orchestra which is the highest Strings class they offer, but the only reason I got in was because they needed more people in it. Once again I was terrible and I tried so hard but nothing would ever happen. Summer came along and I was entering my 8th grade year also known as my 3rd year in music. I remember I didn't want to be worse than the new 7th graders coming in to Orchestra, so I practiced everyday for 2 hours. When school arrived it was like all of my practicing from before and during the summer just started working. I began getting 5th chair out of 22 violins, and then I got 2nd chair. When I saw that I was so happy because that meant I got be a section leader of the second violins, which is like 1st chair. I also got to boss around the 7th graders which was very fun. I maintain that chair from the middle of the year to the very end. I was considered very good. At my last middle school concert my teacher always gives out awards to certain people. Some of the awards are Best Musician and stuff like that. I got the Most Improved 8th Grader award, which is more like a trophy than just a sheet of paper. I myself was so happy because all of my hard work got noticed. Till this day I still play my violin every day. I even got into the highest Stings class at Ventura High School which only Seniors and Juniors get into, it's very rare for Freshman, but i didn't take the required summer school classes for me to do music at Ventura. So I wasn't able to do it buts that's fine because I always have next year.
Some people may be thinking “why play such a boring, plain instrument, why not something better like the guitar or drums”, well for me it wasn’t much a choice since my older sister plays the violin. It was very expected from my parents that I also choose to play the violin when I entered middle school. Now I can’t exactly recall how I even learned how to play the instrument. But I do know I practiced a lot for it.
One of the first things we did was learn scales. And we would play the scale that we are learning as a warm up to the beginning of class then work on the music we were given. But for every scale we learned in class we had a test on, and it wasn’t your ordinary multiple choice test. It was very “scary” or nerve wracking because one by one we would be randomly called on for the test, where you had to play the scale in front of the whole classroom all by yourself. Then your music teacher, in my case it was Mr.Boccali, would critique you while you are playing. Depending on how you did on test, it would determine your chair number. For me no matter how hard I tried I would always end up be 2nd to last chair or last chair. I was terrible, but so was everyone else because it was a beginning strings class. And in my 2nd year of playing I made it into String Orchestra which is the highest Strings class they offer, but the only reason I got in was because they needed more people in it. Once again I was terrible and I tried so hard but nothing would ever happen.
Summer came along and I was entering my 8th grade year also known as my 3rd year in music. I remember I didn't want to be worse than the new 7th graders coming in to Orchestra, so I practiced everyday for 2 hours. When school arrived it was like all of my practicing from before and during the summer just started working. I began getting 5th chair out of 22 violins, and then I got 2nd chair. When I saw that I was so happy because that meant I got be a section leader of the second violins, which is like 1st chair. I also got to boss around the 7th graders which was very fun. I maintain that chair from the middle of the year to the very end. I was considered very good. At my last middle school concert my teacher always gives out awards to certain people. Some of the awards are Best Musician and stuff like that. I got the Most Improved 8th Grader award, which is more like a trophy than just a sheet of paper. I myself was so happy because all of my hard work got noticed.
Till this day I still play my violin every day. I even got into the highest Stings class at Ventura High School which only Seniors and Juniors get into, it's very rare for Freshman, but i didn't take the required summer school classes for me to do music at Ventura. So I wasn't able to do it buts that's fine because I always have next year.